‘Bathukamma Sarees’ Is Rs 150 Crore Scam: Revanth Reddy Comes Out With Evidence

Hyderabad: In the backdrop of women venting their anger over the distribution of cheap quality 'Bathukamma sarees' from the Telangana government, TDP Telangana working president Revanth Reddy on Monday alleged that the scheme was a Rs 150 crore scam.

Addressing a press conference here in the city, Revanth Reddy said Telangana State Textiles Complex Co-Operative Society Limited, which is an allied organisation of Telangana State Handloom Weavers Society (TSCO), gave an advertisement on July 10 in English daily The Hindu inviting Expression of Interest (EoI) for the task.

"The advertisement stated that those who come before July 13 will be given the contract. However, no one has turned up," he said. So the TSCO single-handedly worked out the plan to procure sarees since the deadline is nearing in.

No technical assessment has been done on the yarn count, weaving stage, procurement and processing stage for the sarees that are being distributed to poor women in Telangana as part of the Bathukamma festival.

The state government claimed that about about 53 lakh sarees were procured from the weavers in Sircilla and rest of them from Surat and various cities in the country. "Even if the whole weaving community in Sircilla town toiled day and night for two months, only 1.5 lakh crore metres (20 lakh sarees) can be produced. Which is far less than the claimed quantity," Revanth Reddy pointed out.

Setting aside the famous textiles weavers from Gadwal, Kothakota, Pochampalli, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao gave orders to his trusted TRS councillors from Sircilla town to procure 53 lakh sarees, Revanth Reddy alleged.